Original subtitles

(dramatic drum beats)

- (man speaks French)

NARRATOR: The great book of courage and fear

was written on these Normandy beaches on June 6th, 1944.

(gentle rousing classical music)

NARRATOR: Here, three million Allied soldiers landed or fell from the sky

to free Europe from Nazi oppression.

(plane engines drone)

(distant explosions)

(tense music)

(explosions and artillery fire)

(shouting)

(rapid gunfire in distance)

(rapid gunfire nearby)

(recording of rapid gunfire)

NARRATOR: Anne Marie Desquet lived on this beach.

The Allies were there, so she smiled, despite the danger.

She recalls:

"Our dog is terrified.

Cannons are being fired!

Planes are flying overhead!"

(plane engines drone)

NARRATOR: Henri Bougeard was a child.

He remembers:

"The D-Day landings were hailed as a relief

and a terrible misfortune.

War had reached our shores."

(tank squeaks and rattles)

NARRATOR: For the men who landed in Normandy,

and soon in Provence, and for the whole of France,

this is the summer of the Apocalypse.

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: How did the Allies prepare for these gigantic campaigns?

How did the Germans organise their defences?

For all concerned, this will be The Great Challenge.

(dramatic music)

(muffled chanting of crowd)

MAN ON STAGE: Adolf Hitler.

ALL: Adolf Hitler.

NARRATOR: Since 1938, Hitler has tormented Europe,

claiming, like other dictators,

that he is the victim of a war he himself caused.

- (muffled speech in German)

(tense music)

NARRATOR: In July 1943, he still controls part of Russia,

known at the time as the Soviet Union.

But since his defeat in the Battle of Kursk,

he is on the defensive.

His enemies, the so-called Big Three,

meet in Tehran in November 1943.

(suspenseful music)

NARRATOR: Stalin, Master of the Kremlin,

gets together with US President Franklin D Roosevelt...

..and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill...

to prepare a new Western Front to relieve the pressure in the East.

(chatter and stirring music)

NARRATOR: Churchill sought to impose his idea of landing in the Balkans,

which he called "Europe's soft underbelly"...

to take Berlin before the Russians.

Stalin opposed this idea, as did the Americans.

So, the plan became:

land in Normandy, then in Provence,

to meet up in Dijon...

and encircle the German army.

Everything began one year earlier in French North Africa,

with the Allies' first significant landing,

General Eisenhower in command.

Dwight D Eisenhower is 54.

Born into a modest family of German emigrants,

he was accepted at the prestigious West Point Military Academy.

This armoured officer proves to be a brilliant organiser and diplomat.

History will remember him.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: In 1942, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia

were still in the hands of Marshall Petain and Admiral Darlan,

who had established a policy of collaboration with Hitler.

On November 8th, 1942,

when the Allies landed in North Africa,

they didn't hesitate to issue orders to open fire.

(shouting and gunfire)

NARRATOR: Three days of fighting left 2,000 dead,

most of them French.

Yet, following his victory,

Eisenhower kept Admiral Darlan in power.

A pragmatist, he explained to Roosevelt:

"I understand your surprise.

But without a strong French government in place here,

we would be forced into full military occupation,

which would cost us dearly in time and resources."

(marching footsteps)

NARRATOR: But Darlan was assassinated

by a French Resistance fighter on Christmas Day, 1942.

Roosevelt replaced him with General Henri Giraud,

a leading light of the French army,

with the intent to sideline General de Gaulle, in exile in London.

Roosevelt didn't like de Gaulle, whom he saw as a potential dictator.

Yet Churchill supported him.

After complex negotiations,

Giraud and de Gaulle shared interim control over liberated North Africa.

(dramatic burst of music)

NARRATOR: In Algiers, in June 1943, the two rivals

present the new African Army to King George VI of England.

(marching footsteps)

NARRATOR: It has been re-equipped and re-armed by the Allies.

The troops prepare to return to combat with the Pieds-Noirs,

the Moroccan "goumiers",

the Algerian infantrymen, and numerous African troops,

often enlisted by force

or seduced by the salary and prestige of the uniform.

(tense percussive music)

NARRATOR: Soon, they will land in Provence to liberate France.

After North Africa, the Allies set their sights on Sicily.

First, they devise an extraordinary disinformation campaign

to mislead the Germans.

In London, MI5, Britain's counter-espionage agency,

comes up with the Mincemeat plan.

British secret agents recover a body from the morgue,

make it look presentable, and dress it up as a staff officer.

They take him on board a submarine

and throw him into the water off the coast of Spain.

He has a new identity in his pocket, Major William Martin,

along with a military career, a fiancee, and a wealth of details.

And the essential item:

attached to his wrist, a briefcase containing plans, in indelible ink,

for a fake Allied landing in Greece and Sardinia.

The tide will do the rest.

The body is found by Spanish fishermen on April 30th, 1943.

The documents reach the Germans,

who study them and deem them credible.

This leads General Jodl to convince Hitler

that a landing will take place in Greece,

so the troops are sent there.

But the German soldiers spend their time sightseeing.

Operation Mincemeat is a success.

The coast is clear.

On July 9th, 1943, the Allies are able to land in Sicily

without significant casualties.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: The 7th US Army's film department

features its leader, the best-known

and most controversial general of the day, Patton.

George Patton, 58, is a leader of men and a remarkable tactician.

A historian of Caesar and Napoleon, a great Francophile,

he is extravagant, wearing his 1911 Colt 45 revolver on his belt,

Wild West style.

The ivory grip is engraved with his initials.

His bull terrier, Willie, is by his side for every battle.

Patton is famous for his outspokenness.

He tells his soldiers...

.."The object of war is not to die for your country

but to make the other BLEEP die for his."

Patton is often hard to control.

He slaps a shell-shocked soldier in the face.

It's an outrage.

He is relieved of his command.

Roosevelt appoints Eisenhower to command all Allied forces in Europe.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: On December 6th, 1943, he moves to London,

to plan from England, Operation Overlord...

..the landing in France.

- I am highly gratified that my command is still an allied one.

The past year has seen a tremendous advance

in our progress towards final victory.

On the Russian front, the great and valiant Red Army

have made tremendous inroads against the Nazis.

I have complete confidence that the soldiers, sailors, and airmen

and all the civil population of the united nations

will demonstrate, once and for all that an aroused democracy is

the most formidable fighting machine that can't be devised.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Neutral countries like Sweden

pass these newsreels to the Germans.

Eisenhower continues feeding false intel.

He indicates the Bordeaux region...

..whereas, in Tehran, the Big Three decided

that the Landing would occur between Cherbourg and Le Havre.

Broad beaches, large enough to accommodate an immense fleet,

for what will be the most extensive amphibious operation in history.

Eisenhower chairs the Inter-Allied Chiefs of Staff

because America provides funding and weapons for the operation.

For diplomatic reasons,

he is surrounded by two renowned British generals.

General Bernard Montgomery, 57,

will command the D-Day land forces.

Victorious over the Germans in the Battle of the Desert,

he is known to be difficult and reluctant to cooperate.

(muffled chatter)

NARRATOR: And then, there's Royal Air Force General Arthur Tedder, 54,

in his iconic leather flight jacket.

(muffled chatter)

NARRATOR: For Montgomery, Tedder is in cahoots with the Americans.

He was with Eisenhower in Sicily.

Tedder hates their complicity.

Eisenhower will have to call upon his legendary diplomatic skills.

Montgomery will say privately,

"We have the brains, and the Americans have the brawn!"

(tense music)

NARRATOR: For Eisenhower, the job is a complicated one.

The world's fate rests upon his shoulders.

In early 1944, Hitler is at the Wolf's Lair,

his headquarters in the East.

The mood is glum.

Hitler often has himself filmed decorating war heroes.

He tries to galvanise his troops after five years of war,

like with these submarine commanders,

the last survivors of the Battle of the Atlantic.

The German people are worried, and many officers are unhappy.

Several assassination attempts have failed...

..and Hitler now only goes out

to attend the many funerals war has brought on.

To prepare everyone for what Hitler calls The Invasion,

he proclaimed in his latest directive...

(artillery fire)

NARRATOR: .."We have been moved to extremes

in the fight against Bolshevism...

..but nothing can mortally damage the German lifeline."

(marching music)

NARRATOR: "Closer to home, a greater danger threatens us.

The Anglo-Saxon landing.

Should the enemy succeed in penetrating the West,

the consequences would be incalculable."

(tense music)

(deep blasts of ship's whistle)

NARRATOR: In the English ports,

over two million soldiers join the British forces.

Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders,

along with French, Poles, Czechs, Norwegians, Belgians and Greeks.

The Americans arrive in England

on liners converted for troop transport - the Liberty Ships.

# SOUSA: The Stars and Stripes Forever

NARRATOR: They make up three-quarters of the Allied forces.

The African-Americans are separated from the others.

100,000 strong, they are subjected to the segregation

in effect in the United States at the time.

(muffled chatter)

(rousing music continues)

NARRATOR: 100,000 women are enlisted in the army

as nurses or auxiliaries.

One of them tries to reassure these young Americans with donuts,

one of their favourite foods.

Private Tom Porcella is troubled.

He is a devout Christian and wonders...

.."Will I be able to kill a man?"

(steam train chugs)

NARRATOR: Most haven't yet asked themselves this question.

They are GIs, which stands for Galvanised Iron,

like their equipment and morale.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: These millions of soldiers will live in 700,000 tents.

They will consume 100,000 tonnes of potatoes,

200 million litres of beer,

and a stock of 15 million condoms.

The Americans are an instant hit.

# OFFENBACH: Marines' Hymn

NARRATOR: Laura Knight, 19,

is one of 75,000 young English women to marry a GI.

She says...

"They were magnificent,

with big pockets full of chewing gum!"

(crowd cheers and applauds)

- (boy laughs)

- (girl laughs)

NARRATOR: 350,000 vehicles - tanks, trucks, Jeeps -

have crossed the Atlantic

to invade the roads and fields of the English countryside...

..shaking up traditions across 500 kilometres.

10,000 ships of all sizes,

manned by 200,000 sailors,

pile into the ports of southern England.

They will be loaded with 25 million tonnes of food,

equipment and fuel.

(winch clanks)

NARRATOR: Each division will consume 100,000 litres of gasoline per day

once in France.

Therefore, an ultra-secret underwater pipeline

is put into place to be rolled out across the English Channel.

On the Southern West Coast of England, in Woolacombe,

the Allies build a giant secret assault training centre.

On February 19th, 1944, a Soviet delegation arrives,

led by Admiral Kharlamov, a master spy.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Surprised by the damp, cold weather

in this part of England, the Russians are equipped

with warm US Navy jackets.

Admiral Kharlamov visits the landing barges

and confirms that Stalin is preparing

a major offensive in the East to prevent the Germans

from sending reinforcements to Normandy when the time comes.

The Russians discover some unusual inventions,

including the floating tank...

..the Duplex, with propellers to move through the water...

..and the Crab, designed to destroy beach mines.

Much of this new amphibious equipment

is the result of lessons learned

during the catastrophic Allied landing in France two years earlier,

an attempt to seize the port of Dieppe on August 19th, 1942.

It cost them two Canadian divisions, British commandos, American rangers,

and a handful of Free Frenchmen.

(projectile whistles through air)

(explosion booms)

NARRATOR: In the fierce air battle over Dieppe,

pilots of all nationalities continue to fight

next to the Royal Air Force.

(rapid gunfire)

NARRATOR: One of them is shot down - a Belgian...

..Count Ivan du Monceau de Bergendal.

He is rescued by Royal Navy sailors...

and returns to combat until the end of the war.

The German newsreels, in French,

take full advantage of the disastrous Allied assault.

(man speaks French on newsreel)

NARRATOR: The Germans claimed two victories -

on the beach at Dieppe, and in the public opinion,

which now believes that "Fortress Europe" is impenetrable.

(troops sing together)

NARRATOR: Two years later, the failure at Dieppe

leads Eisenhower and his Allies

to abandon their plans to take this major port on the Atlantic coast,

which would be heavily defended.

This raises the question of transporting tanks

and heavy equipment by large ships

that cannot approach the beaches without running aground.

Eisenhower builds two prefabricated artificial harbours,

one for the Americans and the other for the British.

This colossal project and technological feat

is known as "Mulberry harbours".

These quays and floating piers will be towed across the English Channel

and submerged on D-Day, in front of the landing beaches,

with massive concrete cubes to protect them from the waves.

The construction site is spotted by a German reconnaissance plane,

but the high command doesn't understand what it is.

D-Day landing preparations in southern England

have become history's most significant accumulation

of troops and equipment,

impossible to hide from the Germans.

So, the Allies invent a new disinformation manoeuvre...

Operation Fortitude...

..which consists of two fake operations

planned for the first six months of 1944.

Fortitude North, the announcement of a landing in Norway,

so the Germans will send troops there,

creating short supply elsewhere.

And Fortitude South, to convince Hitler

that the main landing will occur in the Pas-de-Calais,

where the distance between England and France is at its shortest.

General Patton is reinstated because he's famous and credible...

..leading a phantom army with dummy armoured divisions.

(whimsical military music)

NARRATOR: But will Hitler fall for it?

In March 1944,

he leaves his headquarters in the East for his mountain home.

He's taken the bait of Operation Fortitude.

He orders the transfer of troops to Norway

and the reinforcement of the armoured divisions

in the Pas-de-Calais.

At the Berghof, his chalet, now the hub of power,

Hitler reassures his much-needed

Romanian, Bulgarian and Slovakian allies.

- Heil Hitler.

NARRATOR: Although he believes the D-Day landings

will occur in Pas-de-Calais, he can't be sure.

He has no choice but to keep fortifying the coasts

of occupied Europe, from Lapland to the Basque country.

He reinforces the Channel zone,

which greatly benefits French cement and construction companies.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: In the spring of 1944,

along the length of what is now known as the Atlantic Wall,

9,000 blockhouses are completed,

representing only half the amount initially planned.

This is because Hitler prioritises gigantic submarine shelters

in French ports such as Lorient and Saint-Nazaire.

He states:

"With walls 15 feet thick and 600 feet long,

they will be invulnerable and indestructible."

Hitler's vision of defence is medieval.

He wants walls.

He says:

"I will go down in history

as the greatest fortification-builder of all time!"

"I am hellbent on turning the Atlantic and English coasts...

..into an impregnable fortress."

(newsreel fanfare music)

NARRATOR: German newsreels go wild to impress the Allies.

(man speaks German on newsreel)

(rousing music on newsreel)

NARRATOR: Every family has at least one member

dead, wounded, or taken prisoner.

At the National Socialist People's Relief,

Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels puts on a show of concern

for the Germans living in ruins.

(tense tone)

NARRATOR: And on the Atlantic Wall,

the Fuhrer appoints notorious leaders.

At the helm of the Western Front is Field Marshal von Rundstedt,

one of France's conquerors.

And highly popular Field Marshal Rommel

is placed at the head of all coastal defences.

His presence alone reassures the Reich's film audiences

as he addresses them,

as seen here in Le Touquet in the spring of 1944.

- (Rommel speaks German)

NARRATOR: "Given our fortification, the iron morale of our troops...

..and our new weapons, we can rest easy.

There's no need to worry. We'll be fine.

If the English try to land here, they won't come back again."

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Yet Rommel knows that some sectors

are less well-defended than others.

Many of Rommel's 4,000 weapons are spoils of war in France in 1940,

including the famous 75-millimetre cannon...

..or railroad artillery.

The calibres are too varied, and shell stocks are insufficient.

The manpower was Insufficient as well.

235,000 Wehrmacht soldiers are spread out along the Atlantic Wall.

Around 30,000 are in Normandy.

And they're not all Germans.

Some units were taken from Russian prison camps...

..generally sentenced to starve to death.

The most recently captured prisoners still fit to fight

are fed, washed, and given German uniforms.

In Hitler's view, they should receive a political education,

like all the Reich's soldiers.

The instructors are given a booklet

whose title copies that of an American film, Why We Fight.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: During their training,

the recruits memorise the following words...

.."England feels it's her duty to rule over other peoples.

Americans believe in the United States' supremacy

over other peoples.

Jews are the world's main war-makers."

(troops sing)

NARRATOR: For Hitler, this indoctrination has military value.

Celebrating his rise to power at a Munich brewery, he says:

"If a man believes his command is infallible, he dies more easily.

Let's uphold this belief

and ensure that his final fight is easier for him."

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Hitler wants the defenders of the Atlantic Wall

to be indoctrinated, trained, and able to withstand the first hit.

But many of the recruits from Germany are skinny children...

..who have endured restrictions, sleep deprivation...

Allied bombings in their towns

and the brutality of the Nazi education.

Like 18-year-old soldier Franz Gockel,

lost in his oversized uniform and helmet.

He stands with his machine gun on the beach at Colleville-sur-Mer,

where the Americans will soon land.

Gockel writes...

"The beach is well-defended.

At low tide, a long strip of anti-tank obstacles

stretches across the sand in front of Coleville.

Death waits on the steel gantries

and tree trunks with flat mines on top...

..that should tear apart the ships landing at high tide."

(wave crashes)

NARRATOR: Six million mines, under the sea, under the sand,

and in the fields above the cliffs.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: But Rommel believes this is not enough.

He is equally concerned about the air defence of the Atlantic Wall.

He has plenty of pilots and outstanding aircraft...

..but his squadrons are scattered all over France.

Rommel also regrets that he cannot command the tanks

Hitler has reserved in the Pas-de-Calais.

Field Marshal von Rundstedt privately tells Rommel...

.."The Atlantic Wall is a two-bit bluff."

Rommel agrees. He says:

"This charade is more for the German public than for the enemy.

Who knows the Atlantic Wall better than we do?"

One of the Allies' unwitting sources of information

is General Oshima,

Ambassador of Japan, Germany's main ally.

Invited to visit the Atlantic Wall for four days,

..he transmitted a 20-page, double-encoded report to Tokyo,

which was intercepted and deciphered by brilliant American academics.

This report gave a detailed account of the structure

of the fortifications, artillery, and communications.

Everything was shown and explained to him in detail.

Throughout the war, Oshima will send out 1,475 secret dispatches.

General Marshall, Commander-in-Chief of the US Army,

comments sarcastically...

.."Oshima has been our greatest informant on Hitler's intentions."

The Wall is closely guarded,

yet the French Resistance networks find daredevils to approach it...

..like Normandy's cycling champion Guillaume Mercader.

He has obtained permission from the Germans to train along the coast.

Every day, he observes the state of new construction work...

minefield installations, and ammunition stocks

amongst bourgeois villas and luxury hotels emptied of their guests.

This takes courage in a country that generally remains loyal

to its head of state, Marshal Petain,

who continues to collaborate with the Germans.

Resistance fighters represent barely 2% of the population,

but they bring essential information to the Allies.

They reveal that the Wall has vulnerabilities.

Passageways for daily exercise...

..for sailing enthusiasts...

for those who are homesick.

The Germans are sick and tired of staring in vain

at the waves on the horizon.

Some slowly lose their fighting spirit,

like Helmut Liechtenfelds.

He writes...

.."I'm doing quite well.

Normandy, the name of this part of France, is a wealthy region.

We eat lots of meat.

We're well-fed."

But the Resistance fighters are sharpening their knives.

They will show no mercy.

The Maquisards, up to 100,000,

are hiding in the forests and mountains

of Vercors, Limousin, Provence and Normandy.

- (men laugh)

NARRATOR: They are learning how to wage war,

waiting for the insurrection order.

This order will be transmitted by London's radio station, the BBC,

always jammed by the Germans.

But the jamming doesn't stop people from listening to General de Gaulle,

the voice of hope.

- (De Gaulle speaks French on radio)

NARRATOR: Or the programme Les Francais parlent aux Francais,

which broadcasts curious "personal messages",

coded orders for the Resistance fighters.

- (man speaks French on radio)

NARRATOR: Messages such as "Les des sont sur le tapis" -

"The dice are on the carpet" - which, 48 hours before D-Day,

will trigger the sabotage of the railroads.

- (man speaks French on radio)

NARRATOR: The order for cutting telephone lines is,

"Il fait chaud a Suez," - "It's hot in Suez," repeated twice.

Resistance fighters or not,

the French await the announcement of D-Day.

It will be broadcast four days prior,

and will be a verse by Verlaine:

"The long sobs of violins of autumn".

And on D-Day, by another verse:

"Wound my heart with a monotonous languor."

The Germans are well aware of these messages.

Rommel knows that one of them will announce D-Day.

There's nothing to do but wait.

Rommel tells his officers:

"Everything will be decided on the beaches

the very first day, like in Dieppe.

We'll have to push them back immediately.

It will be the longest day."

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Opposite him, Eisenhower.

In the spring of 1944, he organises a summit meeting

to allocate landing sectors... and give the beaches code names.

These names are to be chosen at random and kept secret.

Two American non-commissioned officers helping with the maps

give the names of their states and hometowns.

This is how the two westernmost beaches, assigned to the Americans,

come to be called "Utah" and "Omaha".

Utah Beach is at Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.

Omaha Beach is at Colleville-sur-Mer.

Montgomery suggests to Churchill using fish names

for the two British beaches.

Goldfish...and Swordfish.

Churchill remarks that these fish names aren't appropriate

when so many men will die in the sea.

So the ending "fish" is removed.

The two English beaches, Arromanches and Ouistreham,

become respectively "Gold" and "Sword".

French commandos will land there.

Between the two, the beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer,

intended for the Canadians,

is christened "Juno", after an officer's wife.

To secure these beaches and the Allied flanks,

American paratroopers will jump to the west

and British paratroopers to the east

on the Orne Canal.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: Eisenhower sends his car for Churchill,

to have him meet the paratroopers.

At the wheel, is his driver of two years,

26-year-old Kay Summersby.

Eisenhower says:

"When I first saw her, I thought I was dreaming."

She is a war hero who drove an ambulance through London in flames.

Over the course of two years,

their relationship has become more intimate.

- (he laughs)

NARRATOR: American and British paratroopers

pull off a spectacular rehearsal for Churchill and Eisenhower.

Churchill expresses his satisfaction and confidence.

He says to Eisenhower...

.."General, if you could liberate Paris before winter,

it would be the greatest victory of modern times."

Eisenhower and Montgomery finally agree to organise

a large-scale rehearsal for the Normandy landings.

Exercise Tiger involves 30,000 American and British troops.

On April 22nd, 1944,

they launch an eight-day assault on two beaches in southern England,

similar to those in Normandy.

(explosions)

NARRATOR: They are about to experience a nightmare

that will remain a secret for half a century.

(gunfire)

NARRATOR: Disorganised command...

..artificial fog...

and instructors firing live ammunition

result in hundreds of dead and wounded.

But the worst is yet to come.

During the first days of the exercise,

the radio operators struggle with their equipment while in action.

(radio signal squeals)

NARRATOR: And when it works, everyone chatters non-stop.

(radio chatter)

NARRATOR: On the other side of the Channel,

the Germans detect unusual radio traffic.

(radio chatter)

NARRATOR: Admiral Doenitz, the German Navy's cunning commander,

immediately gives the order to fight.

Nine torpedo boats take off.

Hitler's great battleships have all been sunk by the Royal Navy.

But these fearsome, fast, agile and well-armed crafts

are still operational and ideally suited

to brutal interventions in the English Channel.

They intercept the landing barges packed with hundreds of soldiers.

And then, the unthinkable occurs.

(explosions boom and thunder)

NARRATOR: In addition to the beach casualties,

several hundred men are drowned and missing.

(explosion booms)

NARRATOR: Among them, ten officers carrying plans

for the real beaches of Utah and Omaha.

Eisenhower is furious

and considers aborting Operation Overlord altogether

if the maps are not found.

(tense music)

NARRATOR: A long, gruesome fishing expedition is organised.

All ten maps are recovered.

D-Day will take place as planned.

This disaster is immediately shrouded in secrecy...

until 1984.

British and American troops are taken to special camps

close to the coast.

They have no contact with the outside world.

Everyone senses that D-Day is near and that the countdown has begun.

On May 18th, 1944, Eisenhower comes to encourage his men,

who are perfecting their training and receiving new weapons.

One of these is the famous bazooka, a tubular rocket launcher

that can pierce tank armour and the cement walls of blockhouses.

(projectile whizzes and thunders)

NARRATOR: But also a much older piece of equipment,

a tragic souvenir of World War I - the gas mask.

A test of the mask, very close to D-Day,

takes place on May 21st, 1944,

as identified by a clapboard.

This test is awkwardly completed with a gas chamber drill.

This is all it takes to scare these men,

already nerve-wracked by the long wait.

(amplified heartbeat racing)

NARRATOR: May 27th.

They try to relax by listening to Glenn Miller's orchestra

at full blast...

(music blares)

(percussive swing music)

(swing music and cheering)

NARRATOR: ..and jazz music broadcast by Radio Berlin,

with commentary by an American host who's gone over to the enemy,

Mildred Gillars.

MILDRED: Hello, darlings,

this is Midge calling the American Expeditionary Force.

(muffled radio recording continues)

..and willingly sacrifice a million American boys

on foreign battlefields. - (muffled recording continues)

NARRATOR: She also says:

"You're waiting for the starting signal,

imagining you will succeed in invading our great continent.

You're going to attack a huge fortress.

You're going to get slaughtered."

May 28th. The distribution of French money,

an invasion currency in the same colour as the dollar,

which revolts General de Gaulle,

who is kept away from the D-Day landings until the last moment.

- (woman sings romantic song)

NARRATOR: May 31st.

The men collect their survival kit,

an indication that the Landing is imminent.

Three cans of pressed meat, cheese, vitamin cookies,

sugar, cigarettes,

matches, chewing gum,

a can opener...and a life belt.

(romantic song continues)

NARRATOR: Eisenhower is confident.

His men are pumped up.

Like these boys from a small town in the South - Bedford, Virginia.

(muffled chatter)

NARRATOR: Ray writes to his parents...

.."Operation Tiger made us even more aware of our responsibilities.

We tried to be the best during training.

It was a matter of pride and honour.

And it worked.

We've been chosen to be the first to land."

(haunting music)

NARRATOR: There are 34 of them from the A Company,

116th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division.

They're called the Bedford Boys.

They're waiting for Eisenhower's orders to take Omaha Beach,

which will soon become known as Bloody Beach,

but they don't know that yet.

(plane engines drone)

NARRATOR: D-Day is approaching.

Allied bombing intensifies...

(bombs whistle through air)

NARRATOR: ..on German torpedo-boat bases...

the Channel coast, railroads,

locomotives, roads, bridges and stations.

(explosions thunder)

NARRATOR: This is the Transportation Plan,

designed to prevent the movement of German reinforcements

north of the Loire River.

And in the south of France,

the same pounding prepares for the Provence landings.

Day and night, the British and Americans spare no city.

(bombs whoosh)

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: France's Apocalypse begins...

as does its Liberation.

On June 1st, tens of thousands of men converge on the boats.

Eisenhower writes:

"The most favourable combination of moon, tide and sunrise

is June 5th, 6th and 7th.

We will cross the Channel at night

so that darkness will conceal the importance of our convoys.

Our attacks must take place at low tide

to destroy beach obstacles before the sea covers them."

Eisenhower is then struck by fate, namely rain.

A storm is brewing on the English Channel.

Eisenhower says: "If bad weather sets in,

the Nazis won't need anything else to defend the Normandy coast."

(dramatic music)

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